Post-Darwinist

This blog provides stories that Denyse O'Leary, a Toronto-based journalist, has found to be of interest, as she covers the growing intelligent design controversy. It supports her book By Design or by Chance? (Augsburg 2004). Does the universe - and do life forms - show evidence of intelligent design? If so, Carl Sagan was wrong and so is Richard Dawkins. Now what?

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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Separation of science and state suggested

A kind reader writes,

I just watched ‘Dinosaur Wars’ on PBS. Wow. They should have had Ben Stein narrate it and called it a prequel to Expelled.

He adds, “Makes me think that the US should have a separation of science and state as well as church and state. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest you take the time to watch.”

Alas, reader, my computer’s sound system is currently playing deaf, so “watch” is all I can do. With most TV, that’s a blessing, not with this though.

In the late 19th century, paleontologists Edward Cope and O.C. Marsh uncovered the remains of hundreds of prehistoric animals in the American West, including dozens of previously undiscovered dinosaur species. But the rivalry that developed between them would spiral out of control, permanently damaging their careers and threatening the future of American paleontology.

Good to talk about, but remember, no one was proposing to subject Darwinism as the mechanism of change over time to a detailed audit. That unforgivable betrayal of "atheism on the public payroll" what will get a scientist expelled today.

Oh, by the way, an accompanying backgrounder article at the site is called "Darwinism and the American West." Remember that next time you hear the claim that Darwinists "don't call themselves Darwinists. Creationists invented the term to discredit them." So PBS is "creationist" then?

So much too-hot-to-handle news early in the day, I better have another cuppa ...

PS: Here’s a man who was long the odd man out for doubting the popular modern dino-bird theory of the origin of birds, but was vindicated when the history turned out to be messier than the story.